Free, Libre, and Open Source Software Leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 28, 2026

• FOSS Force ☛ Libgcrypt 1.12.3 Released With Bug Fixes, Curve Alias, and Faster Crypto

  A new Libgcrypt release focuses on maintenance and speed, while improving interoperability through an additional elliptic-curve identifier.

• It's FOSS ☛ FOSS Weekly #26.35: Performance Boost in Kernel 7.3, Omarchy Rising, Kernel, Root Demystifed, and More

  Linux Kernel 7.3 is one of most performance focused releases ever.

• Events

  • @ FOSSY 2026

    Last week, I went to FOSSY 2026 to participate in Camp KDE!

• Web Browsers/Web Servers/Feed Readers

  • Jono Alderson ☛ Fragmentation is not reach

    Except search stopped behaving like a supermarket.

    Google has little incentive to fill a result set with several versions of the same company saying roughly the same thing. An ambiguous search might warrant a shop, a review, a news story, a video, a guide and an official source. Those are different answers to different possible needs. Five websites owned by the same organisation, with overlapping propositions and broadly interchangeable content, are five candidates for the same answer.

  • Mozilla

    • Mozilla ☛ Mozilla Performance Blog: The Road to Better Performance Profiles – Part 2

      Following the symbolication work from Part 1, I undertook two more efforts to improve performance profiles for the Performance team.

    • Firefox Tooling Announcements: MozPhab 2.18.0 Released

      Bugs resolved in Moz-Phab 2.18.0: [...]

• FSF / Software Freedom / Digital Sovereignty

  • [Repeat] FSF ☛ Job opportunity: Systems Integration Administrator at the Free Software Foundation

    This role is intended for someone with approximately 5 years of relevant professional experience and a strong technical background.

    Deep hands-on proficiency in infrastructure automation, software security, disaster recovery, custom GNU/Linux operating system development, and enterprise software deployment is essential. The ideal candidate can work independently, manage complex projects involving multiple stakeholders, communicate technical ideas clearly, and produce thorough, well-maintained documentation. They understand how complex systems behave in international deployments, including data migration and recovery, and can evaluate whether systems remain secure, reproducible, and under organizational control even when working with incomplete information.

    The role requires sound judgment in both urgent and long-term work: the Systems Integration Administrator should be able to participate in an on-call rotation, respond effectively under pressure when systems require attention, and then return to sustained projects that need careful planning, documentation, and follow-through.

  • Software Freedom Conservancy ☛ Freedom for Hacking!!1

    It's that time again... for the triennial DMCA exemptions process! Because of the overreaching restraints the DMCA places on our digital autonomy, the DMCA permits the public to petition to claw back some our right to circumvent software 'access controls' placed upon our devices, which helps restore some rights we have over our technology. In the past we have had success securing digital rights for exploring license violations, jailbreaking TVs and routers, and expanding rights to repair medical devices. This week we applied to renew all of the exemptions we've worked to put in place in the past (and personally, Karen signed on behalf of the group of medical device researchers).

• Licensing / Legal

  • Michael Geist ☛ Unleashing the Trolls: Ontario Court Opens the Door to Liability for Influencers Who Weaponize Their Audiences

    The legislative efforts to combat online harms in Canada have focused chiefly on platform responsibility, with Bill C-34 reintroducing a regulated duty to act responsibly. An Ontario court recently considered another avenue to address harms that instead targets influencers who weaponize their audiences. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a decision that extends the tort of Internet harassment into networked harassment, in which influencers or those with large online audiences encourage their followers to target individuals. In Miller v. Ahn, the court granted an interim injunction against a social media creator with more than 100,000 followers who had mobilized her audience against a Toronto employment lawyer. The actions led to fake reviews of her firm, threatening phone calls and messages, and antisemitic abuse that was directed at the lawyer’s perceived Jewish and Israeli identity.